For most of Dirk Nannes' adult life, cricket has been an afterthought. He used to play a couple of club games at the start of the season, a handful at the end, and in between travel the world pursuing his other passion, skiing. He was no run-of-the-mill ski bum - he competed for several years in World Cup skiing events and narrowly missed selection for the Australian Winter Olympics team in the late 1990s. But when he started to take his cricket seriously, he quickly grabbed the attention of Victoria's selectors. It led to a first-class debut at 29 in 2005-06, and in his second game he suffered the group humiliation of watching Queensland storm to 6 for 900 declared in the Pura Cup final.
A persistent shoulder injury picked up during a stint in English club cricket limited him to one match the following summer, but in 2007-08 Nannes enjoyed his most productive season. A genuinely quick left-arm bowler who can swing the ball late, Nannes collected 22 Pura Cup wickets at 28.54, although he was again part of a demoralised, unsuccessful Victoria side in the decider. There was more joy in the Twenty20, where he was instrumental in the Bushrangers winning the title. Nannes destroyed Western Australia with 4 for 23 in the final, and his promising FR Cup season - 11 wickets at 20.54 - hinted that he would be a big part of Victoria's attack moving forward. Anything but a typical fast bowler, Nannes speaks Japanese, studied the saxophone at university and runs a successful ski-travel company. A self-confessed "accidental cricketer", he is also the son of Dutch migrant parents and his Netherlands passport allowed him to play for Middlesex in 2008 as a non-overseas player.
A persistent shoulder injury picked up during a stint in English club cricket limited him to one match the following summer, but in 2007-08 Nannes enjoyed his most productive season. A genuinely quick left-arm bowler who can swing the ball late, Nannes collected 22 Pura Cup wickets at 28.54, although he was again part of a demoralised, unsuccessful Victoria side in the decider. There was more joy in the Twenty20, where he was instrumental in the Bushrangers winning the title. Nannes destroyed Western Australia with 4 for 23 in the final, and his promising FR Cup season - 11 wickets at 20.54 - hinted that he would be a big part of Victoria's attack moving forward. Anything but a typical fast bowler, Nannes speaks Japanese, studied the saxophone at university and runs a successful ski-travel company. A self-confessed "accidental cricketer", he is also the son of Dutch migrant parents and his Netherlands passport allowed him to play for Middlesex in 2008 as a non-overseas player.
